Fertilizers and Soil Science, Institute of

Fertilizers and Soil Science, Institute of 

(full name, N. D. Prianishnikov All-Union Research Institute of Fertilizers and Soil Science), an institute of the V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the center for the coordination of research on fertilizers in the USSR.

The Institute of Fertilizers and Soil Science was established in Moscow in 1931. As of 1975, it had departments dealing with the geographic network of experiments (concerned with the effect of fertilizers on yields in relation to soil and climatic conditions) and fertilizer systems; nitrogen fertilizers; phosphorus in agriculture; and mixed, potassium, sulfur, and magnesium fertilizers. The institute’s laboratories study the use of fertilizers in irrigated regions and on eroded and drained soils, the effectiveness of organic fertilizers, the physiology of plant nutrition, the liming of soils, and the mechanization and various methods of applying fertilizers.

The institute has a Central Chernozem branch in Belgorod. It maintains the Malouzensk Experiment Station in Saratov Oblast, the Novozybkov Experiment Station in Briansk Oblast, the Smolensk Experiment Station in Smolensk Oblast, the Sudogda Experiment Station in Vladimir Oblast, and the Central Experiment Station in Moscow Oblast. The Novosel’sk experimental site in Kaluga Oblast and six experimental farms also belong to the institute.

The institute studies the scientific bases of plant nutrition and soil fertility and develops fertilizer systems for the various soil and climatic zones of the USSR. Graduate courses are offered both at the institute and through the mail. Publications include Trudy (Transactions), issued since 1933, Biulleten’ (Bulletin), issued since 1956, and Metodicheskie ukazaniia po geograficheskoiseti opytov s udobreniiami (Methodical Instructions for the Geographic Network of Experiments With Fertilizers), issued since 1959. The institute was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1967.